


An Ironic Fate

by alexcyprin (Megatraven)



Series: Silver and Gold [19]
Category: Labyrinths of Astoria (Visual Novel)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Curses, Other, Rekindling Friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 11:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megatraven/pseuds/alexcyprin
Summary: When a curse from Zeus makes MC into a half-titan, she loses her best friend. Years later, they rekindle their friendship, and learn that old prejudices shouldn't determine what their happiness looks like.
Relationships: Alex Cyprin/Main Character
Series: Silver and Gold [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572766
Kudos: 5





	An Ironic Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Written based on a couple of asks I received on tumblr!

They pine.

Of course they pine.

They’ve loved her for so long that it hurts to think about.

They were both young, once. She was human, completely, and she was their best friend.

But the gods- they didn’t really understand mortals, and they didn’t want to. They didn’t have the same morals, they didn’t _care_. 

It only took MC’s mother one too many times, butting heads with Zeus, for his anger to grow too big for him. He spat a curse down on her, and Aphrodite and Hades intervened- of course they did, they loved her.

But if the curse didn’t land on her, it had to go somewhere.

And they don’t discover it right away, weeks passing without anything weird or unusual cropping up. But it comes eventually.

MC is beaming when her mother gets home, but there’s only dread on her mother’s face when she takes in the scene: an aura of a bird, making a mess flying through their living room.

“I’m just like Alex!” she says, but that’s impossible.

She goes to Aphrodite and Hades, and brings MC with her, worried for her daughter. Humans don’t just gain natural auras.

The gods look at MC, then her mother, and finally each other, a great sadness in both their faces. Hades breaks the news to them, and MC doesn’t really understand what’s so wrong with being a half-titan, but her mother is _devastated_.

They go home.

And MC doesn’t see Alex for a long time- the only exception being when her mother passes. They’d pulled Aphrodite closer to her when she and Josh cried, down on the surface where she was buried.

After that, it was radio silence.

No phone calls. No texts. No emails. 

MC adjusts to her life as a non-human on top of her schoolwork. She makes friends with local monsters, and even a couple of titans that chill out in the city from time to time.

She grows up.

She grows up, and she doesn’t have much of a direction in life; HERA wouldn’t accept her application, with the titan blood in her veins, not even when she argues that it was Zeus that put it there in the first place.

She gets bitter, but more than that, she mourns her dream of walking in her mother’s footsteps.

Her monster friends trade tales of the gods, and she learns that they’re not so great, anyways. They’ve done so many terrible things, to good people. To her. 

She learns that if she wants to make a difference, then she needs to go above the gods’ heads and do it herself. If they won’t even speak to her, then she’ll carve her own path out, without their permission or help.

Somewhere along the way, Alex catches wind of her need to make the situations of monsters and titans better.

They laugh a little; of course that’s where she ends up. Of course that’s what she decides to do. It’s totally in line with everything they know about her.

And they know a lot!

They haven’t kept in contact with her, forbidden by the gods to do so, but... they still cared about her. They kept tabs, made sure she was alright, talked to Josh about how she was doing.

They did little things- sent anonymous flowers when they’d heard she had a rough day. Left a birthday gift at the door each year. Helped pay for the college courses she took when her father left and Josh couldn’t support her himself.

It wasn’t much, but it was all they could think to do without breaking the rules.

Really, it was only a matter of time before they ran into her again. They ran in similar circles now, both frequented the Boarback... both still cared about and thought of the other.

And when they _do_ run into each other- it’s literally. They’re not paying attention and Alex walks right into her as they’re leaving the Boarback and they both fall to the ground at the impact. They don’t notice right away, just who it is, and an apology is on their lips before it dies when they look at her.

“...MC.”

They’re more than a little dumbfounded, but she’s in a similar state, just. Staring at them.

“Alex.”

She scrambles to her feet and offers them her hand, and they’re not even thinking when they reach out to take it.

But she is, and she pulls back before they can.

“Sorry. I should- I have to go.”

And she turns around and leaves them there, and it takes them another minute to realize they were the one about to leave the bar.

After that, they see each other more, here and there. In line at the same coffee shop. Visiting Medusa’s bookstore. Getting a drink at the Boarback. In the streets.

It hurts them both every time, but they’d rather have those little moments than nothing at all. Getting cut out of one another’s lives... nothing hurt worse than that.

They exchange little words. ‘Hey’s and ‘Hi’s and ‘How are you’s. They catch each other’s eye, too often, and look away just as quick.

In the bar, Alex will stay longer if she shows up, or for as long as she’s there. Her laugh helps them breathe easier, and the way her voice carries across the room warms their heart. Sometimes they just watch her from across the way, blushing when Eryn nudges them and winks.

And MC- she just likes to know they’re still there, doing okay. She wishes they could be friends again, maybe something more, but she’s content to be where they are.

Slowly, slowly they get closer. The distance between them in any given place starts to close. They have small talk that last longer than a quick greeting. They ask about each other’s lives, their jobs, their families.

They start to warm back up to each other, and sometimes they forget about the boundaries between them, slipping back into easy conversations and warm smiles.

Eventually they’re sitting next to each other at the bar, just barely keeping themselves from touching one another. They’re sharing stories and Alex is laughing harder than they’ve laughed in years, tears stinging the corners of their eyes. They can barely breath through it, and MC is laughing with them.

She doesn’t even think about it, when she reaches forward and wipes one of their tears away.

Both of them freeze, hold their breathes-

but nothing happens.

One minute passes, and then another, and everything is fine.

There’s a mutual sigh of relief and MC pulls back, flustered. She apologizes for doing it- it just felt so natural.

Alex hesitates to say anything, but looking at her just then, their heart beats painfully in their chest, and before they can stop themself, they reach out and take her hand in theirs.

She gives a little gasp and looks up at them, but when they only smile back, she squeezes their hand.

“I missed you,” she says, voice a little watery. There are tears in her eyes that threaten to fall, but Alex knows they must look and sound the same.

“I missed you, too.”

And as time passes, they grow closer and closer- they kiss, they dance, they sing together. MC stays at their apartment, and they stay at hers. They hug in greetings and goodbyes, and share kisses late into the nights.

There’s always the lingering fear of what will happen, when the gods find out. But they’ve both spent too long mourning the loss of their friendship, too long yearning for _something_.

It all comes to a head when the tensions between monsters and titans and gods are larger than ever, and a riot breaks out.

(MC knows it’s what her mother would do. She knows that it’s what her mother _did_ do. Her monster friends told her everything; she knows what the gods did, and how their ignorance and inaction led to her mother’s death.

If she dies, if she lives... she’ll finally be walking in her mother’s footsteps.)

Monsters and titans both demand better conditions; some human agents even join them in the riot.

It’s enough to bring the gods down from on high, and it’s what brings Zeus and MC face-to-face at last. He meets her eyes immediately, and in them, in her face, sees the woman he killed, no matter how indirectly.

The child who endured his curse.

Zeus insults her, and all of the monsters and titans, but she doesn’t rise to his bait. She doesn’t care what he thinks of her humanity, or her titan blood. She won’t stand for the injustice any longer.

Zeus’ lightning starts to spark, and MC’s ring warms up in response. She didn’t wear it for a long time, the reminder that it belonged to her mother painful. But she grew into it. There was a connection to it that she didn’t understand, but its power merged with her own aura.

When Zeus’s aura materializes, she’s about to summon hers when a silver stag and doe interrupt them.

Alex rushes from the elevators, breathing heavily, thanking the stars that they made it to her in time. They surprise Zeus and their mother both by siding with MC. They reach for her hand and take it, and she knows they can win the day, now.

Zeus’ anger rises at their contact, at a demigod choosing a half-titan over their own blood. His aura shoots out, and Alex’s aura isn’t enough to stop it-

But hers is.

A great, golden peacock forms, its feathers molten and flaming. (Her titan aura had been a phoenix- the peacock came from the ring.)

Zeus’ aura breaks on it, but the strength left it the moment her aura appeared. He steps back, shocked, and the same expression is seen on the other gods present, as well as the other monsters and titans.

There are whispers, but MC can’t hear them over the pounding of her heart, the fury that Zeus would attack one of their own just for holding her hand.

Alex has always been a calming presence, though. They help ground her, and then she lets her aura fade, finally hearing the name on every tongue.

“Hera.”

Zeus looks like he wants to be angry- he probably is. But even he wouldn’t risk hurting Hera like this. His queen, in the vessel of a half-titan woman, cursed by his own hands.

It’s ironic.

That Hera, the queen of the gods, goddess of family... rests within the daughter of HERA’s founder, cursed with the blood of the gods’ enemy, lover to Aphrodite’s child.

She doesn’t know what will happen next, now, as everyone stares at her.

She squeezes Alex’s hand, tight.

They’re with her.

She has all of her friends fighting by her side.

And she’s suddenly sure of one thing: there’s never been a better opportunity to change the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Comments and Kudos appreciated!
> 
> If you'd like to request something, or just talk about lovestruck in general, you can send an ask to my sideblog @official-alex-cyprin or my main @megatraven on tumblr! Any requests I receive for characters I haven't met/played through yet will be saved in my inbox until I have met/played them!


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